Featured Book

The History of The Hobbit is a publication which was compiled by John Rateliff. The publication was released in two parts in May and June of 2007 by Harper Collins in the United Kingdom, and as a boxed set in the United States in September by Houghlin Mifflin. Each volume contains 480 pages and includes unpublished manuscripts and drafts by J.R.R. Tolkien. The work presents an extensive study on the early development of The Hobbit, and also details how Tolkien made revisions to the story to accommodate the events in The Lord of the Rings. The Houghlin Mifflin boxed set also includes a new edition of The Hobbit with a short introduction by Christopher Tolkien, a reset text incorporating the most up-to-date corrections, and all of Tolkien’s own drawings and colour illustrations, including the rare “Mirkwood” piece.

Featured Quotation

"The problems that confront one given responsibility for the writings of a dead author are hard to resolve. Some persons in this position may elect to make no material whatsoever available for publication, save perhaps for work that was in a virtually finished state at the time of the author's death."